URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt what it described as a $220 million real-estate Ponzi scheme that appeared to grow in part because the alleged operators used their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to disarm skeptics.

A “complex web of over 200 entities” were part of the scheme, which involved purported opportunities “to invest in limited liability companies in order to share ownership of large apartment communities in eight states,” the SEC said.

Charged civilly with securities fraud were Wendell A. Jacobson, 58, and his son Allen R. Jacobson, 33. The Jacobsons operated from Fountain Green, Utah, and the scheme operated under an umbrella company known as Management Solutions Inc., the SEC said.

U.S. District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins approved an asset freeze, the agency said, adding that about 225 investors were ensnared in the scheme.

“Wendell and Allen Jacobson misled investors to believe they were financially supporting what was portrayed as a widespread and reputable operation to revamp apartment communities and turn a significant profit,” said Ken Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional Office. “Their promises were anything but truthful.”

The scheme, according to the SEC, began at least in 2008 and involved “material and pervasive misrepresentations.”